Hyde Defeats Rocky Hill On Missed Extra Point

ROCKY HILL — — Hyde Leadership High School's Ezekiel Nixon and William Burroughs deflected Greg Marzilli's extra point attempt with 17 seconds remaining to help the fifth-seeded Howling Wolves hold on to a 15-14 win over fourth-seeded Rocky Hill in the Class S quarterfinals Tuesday night.

"We have a pretty senior-laden group, especially on special teams, they decided last year they were going to dedicate themselves to special teams," Hyde coach Melvin Wells said. "We run the extra-point block play every single day and we work as hard as we know how to make sure that we at least give ourselves a chance... to make a play."

"That never happens, the kid's a good kicker," Rocky Hill coach David Coyne said. "We were thinking about going for the two and the win, but we decided to kick it, tie it and go into overtime, but we didn't get it."

Hyde (10-1), who last won a state title in 2009, advances to the Class S semifinals on Sunday. The Howling Wolves will face the winner of Wednesday night's quarterfinal between eighth-seeded Prince Tech and top-seed Ansonia at 6:30 p.m. at Jarvis Field.

"It should be an exciting game because in the playoffs, everybody's hungry," Nixon said. "Ansonia, they're a powerhouse, but you can't sleep on Prince Tech because they are in the playoffs for a reason."

Nixon, who finished with 143 yards on 15 carries, got things started for Hyde, scoring on an 80-yard touchdown run on the first play from scrimmage.

"It was great blocking by my line," Nixon said. "I had that cut and it was off to the races... It put the pressure on them to come back."

The Terriers (9-2) did come back, almost erasing a 15-0 deficit late in the fourth quarter. Marzilli scored on a 3-yard run with 3:47 left. After a Chris Young two-point conversion run, Rocky Hill's defense stepped up, forcing Hyde to punt with 1:47 remaining. Chris Stoneburner blocked the punt, and Rocky Hill took over at their own 44-yard line. Two plays later, Troy Syme completed a 36-yard pass to Alex DeNardo and the Terriers had the ball at the Hyde 4-yard line. On third and goal, Young, who finished with 63 yards on 20 carries, scored from 3 yards out to cut the deficit to one with 17 seconds remaining.

Wells said Hyde defended Rocky Hill's double-wing offense well, but when Rocky Hill shifted to a regular Wing-T formation and the Terriers took advantage.

"I thought we had a play there, but [Young's] a determined young runner and he did what it took to get in the end zone," Wells said. "We didn't stop them at all when it came to the Wing-T."

After the blocked extra point, which came close to making it over the crossbar, Rocky Hill's onside kick went out of bounds and Hyde quarterback Kevin Jones took a knee.

"The kids rallied and fought at the end of the game but they didn't wake up soon enough," Coyne said. "I don't think they came ready to play. ... Hyde did a good job."

With 5:58 left in the first quarter, Rocky Hill couldn't execute a sweep play and the fumble went through the back of the end zone, resulting in a safety. Hyde held an 8-0 lead until Nixon made the score 15-0 with a 25-yard touchdown run at the 8:47 mark of the fourth quarter. Rocky Hill struggled with turnovers, losing two fumbles at the line of scrimmage in addition to the safety.

"The center-quarterback exchange, we had five fumbles there, that's ridiculous and we lost a couple of them and it kills drives," "You can't do that and win in the state tournament. The weather was the same for both teams."

"I'm proud we played this game," Wells said. "We played in the kind of conditions that are made for high school football and we look forward to the opportunity to move on."